Finding Family Medical Care in Andover Kansas for Asthma

Asthma is a chronic disease that is becoming more widespread and very common in children. It can be severe in some adults as well. It requires routine medical follow-ups while the patient is treated and one can have a normal life if the disease is well treated. Getting Family Medical Care in Andover Kansas is a must.

Everyone can be a target of asthma. It is not something that will definitively start at childhood and end in death. Some children have it and then “grow outa of it” by the time they turn adults. Then again, some adults may not have it as children. There are over 240 million asthmatics in the world. The disease can occur at any age, but it often develops during childhood. This is why it’s important to get Family Medical Care in Andover Kansas.

How does one become asthmatic? The precise origins are not well known: they are both hereditary and linked to the environment. Often, folks know at least one person with asthma. Workers exposed to chemicals (paint, hair styling, metals, etc.) may develop a type of asthma called “occupational” asthma. There are also many so-called aggravating factors or triggers of asthma:

* Allergens: animal hair and feathers, dust, pollen, flowers, mites;

* Pollution: smoke, exhaust, tobacco; and

* Food additives (such as sulphites, found in many foods such as beer, sauces, sausages, etc.).

What are the signs to look out for? Asthma is a lung disease that usually manifests itself in “crises”: all of a sudden, the patient finds it hard to breathe. In fact, it is the wall of the bronchi (the pipes that pass the air people breathe into their lungs) that narrows. Air has difficulty passing through the airways. The signs are different according to the person being affected, but it is always difficult to breathe: it makes a whistling sound, coughing is present and you may feel some “weight” on the chest, a feeling of choking and so on. One can have a crisis during the day but also at night.

This breathing “attack” can last a few minutes or several hours. Sometimes there is only one attack and the issue will never return, but sometimes the issue comes back several times a week or a month. What if the attack does not subside? Visit Wichita Family Medicine Specialists LLC.